Behavior of the Black Urban Poor as Adaptive Improvisation

Stack's major thesis in this book is that the behavior of blacks, which many believe to be foolish and contrary to climbing out of poverty, is actually a response and adaptation to abysmal economic realities. At the start of the book, Carol cites the various sociologists and economists who accept and promote the "culture of poverty" theory. According to this theory, poverty causes various social maladies which inhibit the poor from moving into the middle class. In other words, the lack of social mobility is the fault of the poor people, and not the fault of the economic system as a whole. These theorists point towards such facts as the family organization of poor black communities, which are often unstable and involve shifting children from household to household with great frequency, and the lack of a father figure in the...